Investigative Reporting

In the last decade, dozens of stories have been produced out of the Investigative Reporting Program on subjects including the practices of the credit card industry, the sexual harassment and rape of female farmworkers and janitorial workers in the U.S., and a post 9/11 terror prosecution in California. The most successful and most honored of our projects was the 2003 investigation of worker safety in the iron foundry industry. “A Dangerous Business” which appeared as both a print series and a documentary--the only winner of the Pulitzer Prize to also be acknowledged with every major award in broadcasting.

Projects produced by the program have appeared on such national television programs as PBS' Frontline, Frontline/WORLD and the NewsHour as well as ABC's Nightline, CBS’ Evening News and 60 Minutes II. In print, stories for which students were the primary authors or contributors have appeared in the pages of The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle as well as a wide variety of magazines and international and local newspapers.

Projects in which the students' roles were acknowledged and credited have received the Pulitzer Prize, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award, Gerald Loeb Award, Peabody Award, National Press Club Award, George Polk award, the Sidney Hillman Award, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) award, the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, and the Columbia Online Journalism Award.

Classes

The IRP’s classes emphasize the history and role of investigative reporting as well as the skills and techniques needed to do it. Instruction focuses on developing sources, conducting research and interviews, using public records, the legal issues surrounding confidentiality and other issues.

Fellowships

In 2007, in response to cutbacks at major news organizations, the IRP established the country’s first postgraduate fellowships in investigative reporting. This yearlong program is without peer at any academic institution. It is designed to enable select journalists with a proven ability to tell complex stories in the public interest to pursue stories for up to one-year, providing them with salary, benefits and editorial guidance.

Symposium and Professional Workshops

Since 2007, the IRP has hosted a “by invitation only” symposium each spring in honor of the Reva and David Logan Foundation, which endowed the program. The only symposium of its kind in the country, it routinely brings together a veritable “who’s who” of top journalists, law enforcement and government officials to address the critical issues confronting this specialized field. Starting in 2017, the IRP began offering biannual workshops to elevate the journalistic standards of independent filmmakers, increase the impact of their stories and help them break new ground.

Building

The Investigative Reporting Program has its own endowed building across the street from the Graduate School of Journalism at 2481 Hearst Ave.

To learn more about the Investigative Reporting Program, please visit its website.